The 1976 Playboy Music Poll
December, 1975
Mountains Crumble. deserts and glaciers inch forward. Islands disappear under the sea. And our annual music poll continues to evolve. It started back in 1957 as the Playboy Jazz Poll and became the Playboy Jazz&Pop Poll 11 years later. Predictably, there was some carping from both sides. OK. With a wave of our magic editorial wand, the Playboy Jazz & Pop Poll now becomes the Playboy Music Poll. What we've done is break up the ballot into four parts--Pop / Rock, Rhythm-and-Blues, Country-and-Western and Jazz--that correspond to the four types of music selling the most records and commanding the most attention today. The four generic divisions have differing sets of subcategories, since we're polling for different things in each case. For instance, pickers are germane to Country-and-Western, whereas saxophone players are not but are pretty important in Jazz. Speaking of which, we've also combined some groupings that were previously separate. The various reed players have been put in a Woodwinds category, while the piano, organ and synthesizer people have become Keyboards--this due, of course, to the ever-increasing number of musicians who are doubling up. Also, in the fields where groups are important--which means three of the four, Country-and-Western being the exception--we've combined vocal groups, instrumental groups and self-contained groups (the ones that both sing and play) of whatever size into a simplified Group category. All in all, we think that, besides giving more people a chance to win a Playboy Medal, our new format is a better reflection of what's happening. Now we hope that you'll hurry and send in your ballot; for the winners--and, most likely, some more surprises--check our April issue.
Pop/Rock Male Vocalist
Female Vocalist
Guitar
Keyboards
Drums
Bass
List your choices in the 1976 Playboy music poll on the foldout ballot that follows
Composer
Group
Rhythm-And-Blues Male Vocalist
Female Vocalist
Composer
Group
List your choices in the 1976 Playboy music poll on the foldout ballot that follows
Country-and-Western
Male Vocalist
Female Vocalist
Picker
Composer
Jazz
Male Vocalist
Female Vocalist
Brass
Woodwinds
List your choices in the 1976 Playboy Music Poll on the foldout ballot that follows
This is the space in which we tell you how to use your Playboy Music Poll ballot. Which may be a little presumptuous; now that you've spent your hard-earned money on the magazine, you can do whatever you like with the ballot. If it's something really kinky, we'd rather not know about it. But if you use it in the way we intended, you should find it more self-explanatory than ever before. For one thing, there is no category in which you're asked to make more than one selection; one choice in each will be plenty. That's because we won't be visualizing the winners as members of a hypothetical All-Star Band (in recent years, we've been pretty damn lucky it was hypothetical). Also, when it comes to voting for groups, you don't have to stop and consider whether a given outfit has enough pieces to be a big band or few enough to be a combo; groups are groups, no matter what size they are or what they actually do at showtime. Whether they sing, play or cut one another into little pieces, they're still groups.
Some other changes that should make the ballot easier to deal with are the elimination of the Other Instruments category--it's hard to select a top banana from a basket filled with apples, oranges, grapes and coconuts--and the combination of instrumental categories, so that you no longer need to pick the best of 25 or 30 baritone-sax players, 19 or 20 of whom you probably never heard of. All you have to do is go through the ballot and make a choice in each category.
As in past years, of course, you're not bound by the names that are listed. They're mostly there to remind you of who's around--and, as we say in our annual disclaimer, we can't list everybody, no matter what we do. So if you want to vote for someone who isn't listed, be our guest. Just write his or her name in the space provided.
Now, if you do vote for someone we've listed, please don't write in the person's name, because that might short-circuit our computers and send them into spasms of electronic angst. Just write in the number that precedes the name. On the other hand, when you get to the bottom of the ballot, where we ask for your own name, a number will not do, no matter if you got it from Selective Service, Harvard Medical School, Fort Leavenworth or your local musicians' union. We need your name and we need your address (otherwise, we won't be able to count your ballot and you'll have wasted all this time).
In voting for the records of the year, you'll note that the categories have also been changed to correspond to the four basic divisions of the poll. This, too, should be easier than it was in the past, since you no longer have to separate instrumental from vocal LPs or Big-Band from Small-Combo LPs; you need only think of the best Jazz record you've heard lately, the best Country-and-Western record, the best Rhythm-and-Blues record (it's an oldie, but we like that phrase, rhythm-and-blues) and the best Pop/Rock entry, be it hard rock, soft rock or just kind of squishy. In voting for the Hall of Fame, you may pick any musician, living or dead, except for those already enshrined (they're listed on the ballot).
Well, enough of this small talk. You've got your mandate and, presumably, you've been able to figure out these instructions. So take a deep breath, then plunge ahead and make your choices. Mail your completed ballot to Playboy Music Poll, Playboy Building, 919 N. Michigan Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60611. Ballots must be postmarked no later than December 15, 1975. But don't take a chance on missing that deadline; make out your ballot today.
The 1976 Playboy music poll Ballot
Put down the Numbers of listed candidates you choose. To vote for a person not appearing on our lists, write in full name; only one in each category, please.
Pop/Rock
____________________
Male Vocalist
____________________
Female Vocalist
____________________
Guitar
____________________
Keyboards
____________________
Drums
____________________
Bass
____________________
Composer
____________________
Group
Rhythm-and-Blues
____________________
Male Vocalist
____________________
Female Vocalist
____________________
Composer
____________________
Group
Country-and-Western
____________________
Male Vocalist
____________________
Female Vocalist
____________________
Picker
____________________
Composer
____________________
Jazz
____________________
Male Vocalist
____________________
Female Vocalist
____________________
Brass
____________________
Woodwinds
____________________
Keyboards
____________________
Vibes
____________________
Guitar
____________________
Bass
____________________
Percussion
____________________
Composer
____________________
Group
Playboy Hall of Fame
Instrumentalists and vocalists, living or dead, are eligible. Artists previously elected (Duane Allman, Herb Alpert, Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Dave Brubeck, Ray Charles, Eric Clapton, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Bob Dylan, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Benny Goodman, George Harrison, Jimi Hendrix, Mick Jagger, Elton John, Janis Joplin, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Wes Montgomery, Jim Morrison, Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra) are not eligible.
____________________
Playboy's Records of the year
Best Pop/Rock Lp
____________________
Best Rhythm-and-Blues Lp
____________________
Best Country-and-Western Lp
____________________
Best Jazz Lp
____________________
Name and address must be printed here to authenticate ballot.
Name_________________________________
Address______________________________
City___________________State_____________Zip Code_________________
Keyboards
List your choices in the 1976 Playboy music poll on the foldout ballot that follows
Vibes
Guitar
Bass
Percussion
Composer
Group
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